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Letters: Rush Is Just Getting Warmed Up

In his July 6 profile, Zev Chafets writes that Rush Limbaugh fears “being branded a racist,” but ignores numerous examples of Limbaugh’s inflammatory rhetoric. Limbaugh, among other things, claimed Democrats concerned about Darfur were merely courting the black voting bloc; said this year, “Democrats will bend over, grab the ankles and say, ‘Have your way with me’ ” to African-Americans and gays; claimed Senator Barack Obama’s “only chance of winning is that he’s black”; labeled Obama “an affirmative-action candidate”; and, according to The Washington Post, “often played ‘Movin’ on Up’ when referring to Carol Moseley Braun.” Chafets writes that “serious people” have called Limbaugh “a serial liar,” without actually citing the abundant evidence. For example, after calling service members who support U.S. withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers,” Limbaugh vehemently denied he had done so and, to refute the charge, played a spliced audio clip of his comments, while falsely claiming he was providing the “entire” segment at issue.

Readers have a right to expect that in 7,000 words, The New York Times would find the space to construct a real profile rather than a piece that glosses over what makes Limbaugh so controversial.

Eric Burns

Chief of Staff

Media Matters for America

Washington

Those who demonize The New York Times as an overwhelmingly liberal pinko broadsheet would have this myth dispelled by Chafets’s piece. I came away with a far better understanding of Limbaugh, his beliefs and who he is than I might ever hope to read elsewhere. Chafets’s evenhandedness is typical of the liberal Democratic approach, which often appeals to reason rather than resorting to smear campaigns, invective, near-slander and appeals to more base instincts.

Ben Myers

Harvard, Mass.

I’ve listened to Rush for more than 10 years on the radio, so I think that I “know him” — and in my opinion, Chafets gave a superbly honest account of Rush. Love Rush’s conservative message or hate it, he’s one of the best broadcasters in the world, and Chafets did a masterful job.

Zev Chafets has the apparent luxury of not being a moderate or liberal or progressive living deep in the red South. Most places here, you don’t discuss your politics openly because Limbaugh’s dittoheads are ready to excoriate you with the clever turns of phrase they’ve heard their master recite a thousand times, and some of those dittoheads are running your local government, your school, your workplace. I expect if Chafets was familiar with this feeling, he wouldn’t have shirked what we understand to be a journalist’s duty to delve into a subject and examine it from multiple angles. When sober histories are written about Limbaugh, they will not describe him as a potent intellect but as the most important culprit in the dumbing-down of American political discourse in the post-Reagan period.

Rush Limbaugh laments, in reference to Barack Obama, “We can’t talk about his wife, can’t talk about his preacher, can’t talk about his terrorist friends, can’t talk about his voting record, can’t talk about his religion.” To the contrary, all of the above have been the subject of repeated coverage across the media, with the Reverend Wright issue alone dominating the airwaves for at least two weeks. So “we” can indeed talk about these matters, repeatedly and at length. What we can no longer do is talk about them without a prompt and pointed rebuttal. When the Swift boaters attacked the war record of John Kerry, they did so largely with impunity. And even now, many in the media are still perpetuating the false claim that Al Gore said he invented the Internet. But not this time. The Democrats have learned that silence is not a virtue, and the Obama campaign is quick to repudiate false charges and clarify distortions. No longer are the conservative pundits allowed to own the conversation.

Donnette Dolzall

Newtown, Conn.

With one photo, Nigel Parry has captured the many dimensions of Rush Limbaugh’s psyche.

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Through what could be labeled the Face of Evil, we are shown clear evidence of unbridled narcissism, rampant greed, self-indulgence, crafty conservatism, pomposity, defiance, contempt, oral gratification and distressing taste in neckties. They are all there as well as the manicured, baby-bottom-soft hands that attest to an abhorrence of any form of manual labor.

Wes Pedersen

Chevy Chase, Md.

Rush is undoubtedly talented, entertaining, relevant and worthy of the print space and attention afforded him in Chafets’s profile. But to read the article you would never know that for almost 20 years Rush has presided over a steady stream of jaunty homophobia and ebullient, though comically veiled, racism.

Mark J. Mcpherson

Rutherford, N.J.

Listening to Rush Limbaugh is my dirty little secret. I am shocked by his distortions, horrified by his character assassinations, disgusted by his hypocrisy — and yet I tune in. Part of the fun is shouting back at the radio; part is the satisfaction of believing he is squirming in his seat watching the Bush administration fiddle while Rome burns. I look forward to hearing him ratchet up the nastiness as the election approaches; gratified there is nothing he can do about the outcome.

Margie Riordan

New Canaan, Conn.

The most important thing I learned about Limbaugh is that he is first and foremost a capitalist. It seems that if being a liberal appeared to be the most profitable way to go, that’s what he would be preaching today.

Dan Welsch

Patchogue, N.Y.

Rush Limbaugh might count Ronald Reagan and William Buckley among his heroes, but he differs from them and many other conservatives in at least one stark respect: his powerful streak of intellectual relativism. Whether discussing economics, legal issues or scientific questions like global warming, Limbaugh insists to his listeners that claims to expertise (particularly by those he labels liberals) are bunk and that alleged truths are just the infinitely malleable products of political ideology. Unfortunately, he never even tries to square this thoroughgoing relativism with the bedrock certainty with which he holds his own set of right-wing dogmas.

Perry Dane

Professor of Law

Rutgers University

Camden, N.J.

A version of this letter appears in print on , on Page MM8 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Letters | Rush Is Just Getting Warmed Up. Today's Paper|Subscribe